The mafic component of the lunar crust: Constraints on the crustal abundance of mantle and intrusive rock, and the mineralogy of lunar anorthosites
Abstract
Most models of early lunar evolution predict that the anorthositic highlands crust is the result of plagioclase flotation on a magma ocean. However, the lunar highlands crust typically contains 4 wt% FeO and so is more mafic than the strict definition of the anorthosites thought to comprise it. We used new Clementine-based mineral maps of the Moon as inputs to a series of mixing models that calculate the abundance and distribution of major highland rock types and shed light on three possible sources of excess mafic material in the lunar highlands: mafic (15 vol% mafic minerals) anorthosites, postmagma ocean igneous activity, and mafic basin ejecta. Mixing models that feature pure anorthosites like the purest anorthosite (PAN) described by Ohtake et al. (2009) and Pieters et al. (2009) are most compatible with the data. They allow us to place an upper limit of 10-20 vol% mantle material that could be mixed with the primary highlands crust. The upper limit on mantle material indicated by the mixing models is significantly lower than the 30-40 vol% mantle material expected from simple geometric calculations of the major lunar basins’ excavation cavities based on an excavation cavity depth/diameter ratio of 1/10; this discrepancy allows us to conclude that the excavation cavities of the three largest lunar basins may have been significantly shallower than those of the smaller basins. Our results are consistent with excavation cavity depth/diameter ratios for these largest basins in the range of 0.035 to 0.06, which agrees with previous gravity measurements by Wieczorek and Phillips (1999).
© 2015 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Data, ideas, and the nature of scientific progress
- Beyond the equilibrium paradigm: How consideration of kinetics enhances metamorphic interpretation
- Magmatic volatiles (H, C, N, F, S, Cl) in the lunar mantle, crust, and regolith: Abundances, distributions, processes, and reservoirs
- The mafic component of the lunar crust: Constraints on the crustal abundance of mantle and intrusive rock, and the mineralogy of lunar anorthosites
- Degassing pathways of Cl-, F-, H-, and S-bearing magmas near the lunar surface: Implications for the composition and Cl isotopic values of lunar apatite
- Uranium scavenging during mineral replacement reactions
- New structure of high-pressure body-centered orthorhombic Fe2SiO4
- Spectroscopic study of ordering in non-stoichiometric magnesium aluminate spinel
- High-pressure behavior of cuprospinel CuFe2O4: Influence of the Jahn-Teller effect on the spinel structure
- Field and model constraints on silicic melt segregation by compaction/hindered settling: The role of water and its effect on latent heat release
- Formation of rhyolite at the Okataina Volcanic Complex, New Zealand: New insights from analysis of quartz clusters in plutonic lithics
- Experimental investigation of F, Cl, and OH partitioning between apatite and Fe-rich basaltic melt at 1.0–1.2 GPa and 950–1000 °C
- Synthesis, characterization, and thermodynamics of arsenates forming in the Ca-Fe(III)-As(V)-NO3 system: Implications for the stability of Ca-Fe arsenates
- High-pressure phases of cordierite from single-crystal X-ray diffraction to 15 GPa
- Planar microstructures in zircon from paleo-seismic zones
- Ultra-deep subduction of Yematan eclogite in the North Qaidam UHP belt, NW China: Evidence from phengite exsolution in omphacite
- Elastic wave velocity anomalies of anorthite in a subducting plate: In situ experiments
- Current limitations of molecular dynamic simulations as probes of thermo-physical behavior of silicate melts
- Three-component mixed-layer illite/smectite/kaolinite (I/S/K) minerals in hydromorphic soils, south China
- Melting curve of NaCl to 20 GPa from electrical measurements of capacitive current
- Grain size measurement from two-dimensional micro-X-ray diffraction: Laboratory application of a radial integration technique
- Decrease of hydrogen incorporation in forsterite from CO2-H2O-rich kimberlitic liquid
- Provenance determination of sapphires and rubies using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and multivariate analysis
- Structural insights and elasticity of single-crystal antigorite from high-pressure Raman and Brillouin spectroscopy measured in the (010) plane
- Magnetic anisotropy in natural amphibole crystals
- Resolving oxygen isotopic disturbance in zircon: A case study from the low δ18O Scourie dikes, NW Scotland
- Accurate determination of Fe3+/ΣFe of andesitic glass by Mössbauer spectroscopy
- Recoil-free fractions of iron in aluminous bridgmanite from temperature-dependent Mössbauer spectra
- Chemical interactions between a sedimentary diapir and surrounding magma: Evidence from the Phepane Dome and Bushveld Complex, South Africa
- The crystal structures of Mg2Fe2C4O13, with tetrahedrally coordinated carbon, and Fe13O19, synthesized at deep mantle conditions
- New Mineral Names
- Book Review: Geodynamics, Third edition.
Artikel in diesem Heft
- Data, ideas, and the nature of scientific progress
- Beyond the equilibrium paradigm: How consideration of kinetics enhances metamorphic interpretation
- Magmatic volatiles (H, C, N, F, S, Cl) in the lunar mantle, crust, and regolith: Abundances, distributions, processes, and reservoirs
- The mafic component of the lunar crust: Constraints on the crustal abundance of mantle and intrusive rock, and the mineralogy of lunar anorthosites
- Degassing pathways of Cl-, F-, H-, and S-bearing magmas near the lunar surface: Implications for the composition and Cl isotopic values of lunar apatite
- Uranium scavenging during mineral replacement reactions
- New structure of high-pressure body-centered orthorhombic Fe2SiO4
- Spectroscopic study of ordering in non-stoichiometric magnesium aluminate spinel
- High-pressure behavior of cuprospinel CuFe2O4: Influence of the Jahn-Teller effect on the spinel structure
- Field and model constraints on silicic melt segregation by compaction/hindered settling: The role of water and its effect on latent heat release
- Formation of rhyolite at the Okataina Volcanic Complex, New Zealand: New insights from analysis of quartz clusters in plutonic lithics
- Experimental investigation of F, Cl, and OH partitioning between apatite and Fe-rich basaltic melt at 1.0–1.2 GPa and 950–1000 °C
- Synthesis, characterization, and thermodynamics of arsenates forming in the Ca-Fe(III)-As(V)-NO3 system: Implications for the stability of Ca-Fe arsenates
- High-pressure phases of cordierite from single-crystal X-ray diffraction to 15 GPa
- Planar microstructures in zircon from paleo-seismic zones
- Ultra-deep subduction of Yematan eclogite in the North Qaidam UHP belt, NW China: Evidence from phengite exsolution in omphacite
- Elastic wave velocity anomalies of anorthite in a subducting plate: In situ experiments
- Current limitations of molecular dynamic simulations as probes of thermo-physical behavior of silicate melts
- Three-component mixed-layer illite/smectite/kaolinite (I/S/K) minerals in hydromorphic soils, south China
- Melting curve of NaCl to 20 GPa from electrical measurements of capacitive current
- Grain size measurement from two-dimensional micro-X-ray diffraction: Laboratory application of a radial integration technique
- Decrease of hydrogen incorporation in forsterite from CO2-H2O-rich kimberlitic liquid
- Provenance determination of sapphires and rubies using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy and multivariate analysis
- Structural insights and elasticity of single-crystal antigorite from high-pressure Raman and Brillouin spectroscopy measured in the (010) plane
- Magnetic anisotropy in natural amphibole crystals
- Resolving oxygen isotopic disturbance in zircon: A case study from the low δ18O Scourie dikes, NW Scotland
- Accurate determination of Fe3+/ΣFe of andesitic glass by Mössbauer spectroscopy
- Recoil-free fractions of iron in aluminous bridgmanite from temperature-dependent Mössbauer spectra
- Chemical interactions between a sedimentary diapir and surrounding magma: Evidence from the Phepane Dome and Bushveld Complex, South Africa
- The crystal structures of Mg2Fe2C4O13, with tetrahedrally coordinated carbon, and Fe13O19, synthesized at deep mantle conditions
- New Mineral Names
- Book Review: Geodynamics, Third edition.